The presence of the far right in Ireland has not gone unnoticed to date, yet some further analysis is required. Several recent developments need our attention. There is, for example, the spreading of meetings and rallies to areas not previously centres of such public displays. Disturbing too is the presence at these marches of many young people and others not previously known as sympathetic to reactionary movements. While it is correct to condemn this behaviour, more is needed than moral outrage, no matter how justified or well-intentioned. It is important that we understand the conditions giving rise to this phenomenon and identify a meaningful response.
Let us first explore the material conditions. Capitalism by its nature is subject to cyclical crises, the last major one occurring in years 2008-2010 with the economic crash. This was largely due to a move away from manufacturing and towards a concentration on the financial sector. As part of this departure, free-market dominated states, the Republic included, had embarked on a widespread policy of privatisation including, significantly, in housing and health.
Following the crash and in order to preserve the capitalist system (and the class that benefited from it), the Republic’s government bailed out the financial system. The cost for doing so was at the expense of citizens through the imposition of austerity. What was ever a flawed system became still worse. Profit driven house builders and medical corporations made access to a home or health care prohibitively expensive for most and beyond the reach of many.
The underlying cause of this situation was and is the prevailing capitalist economic system. However, for the establishment to admit that would be to undermine the viability of the system, leading obviously to the search for a suitable replacement. At which point there arises that spectre so disturbing to the minority benefitting from the free-market. A spectre epitomised currently by the Peoples Republic of China.
Because, as Carlos Martinez poignantly explained recently during a presentation at the Connolly Festival in Dublin that, unlike his experience in our capital city, there are no unfortunate people sleeping in the streets of Beijing or elsewhere in the PRC. Nor indeed is there an issue in China with access to state provided health care, something available to all. In short, a concrete example of how to address a major cause of misery, not only in this country but across much of the free-market West.
Therein lies the real raison d’être for the latest spread of the far-right. There is a housing and health crisis in the Republic and the fascists are attempting to lay the blame on our immigrant population. So they don’t find fault with the capitalist system and most certainly don’t look East for a solution, but instead demand the expulsion of our recently arrived neighbours.
To what extent this dangerous campaign is an organic movement coming from the grass-roots up is a moot point. There is evidence of input from fascist organisations in Britain and funding being provided by sources in the USA. While it is not possible at present to prove a link between these elements and their states’ intelligence agencies, such a connection is a distinct possibility if not an actual probability. British and US spooks are not renowned for their tolerance of threat to their hegemony or a reluctance to intervene subversively. Anyone doubting the lengths to which Britain’s deep state will go need only read the recently published Kincora: Britain’s Shame1.
Ireland, although no longer the vital strategic asset to Britain, retains the potential to become an example to many others if it solved its social problems through adoption of a socialist model. The old Tory nightmare of a Cuba in Europe. And is such a scenario remotely possible? There is in Ireland a history of passively accepting maltreatment for decades before suddenly resisting. Moreover, as for the establishment here and overseas, there are now disturbing signs of stirrings among the young, let’s call it the Kneecap generation.
While it is important to recognise the very likely input from these guardians of imperialism at its highest stage, it is equally essential to identify a pathway to overcome the threat posed.
As a first step it is necessary to understand that the problems presenting fascists with this opening must be addressed. Housing and health are the principal issues impacting many working people attracted to the far-right message. Public housing and a national health service are the only answers to these problems. Not social and affordable houses but an intense programme of well-designed public housing. Not expanding access to healthcare abroad through the Cross Border Directive (CBD), but by providing an extensive health service domestically.
Of course, making people aware of the danger posed by fascism is also vital, but that could be done in the course of a campaign to remedy the problems highlighted above. Perhaps it may be possible to persuade the trade union movement, or at least a significant part of it, to lead the fight as happened through the anti-water charges campaign.
Failing that, what about asking Kneecap to lead off?
